Five junior boys were taken to hospital today after a fire at a top boarding school attended by the Duke of York’s 15-year-old daughter Princess Eugenie.

The five were among sixty boys, some of who had exams today, evacuated from Barton Hill boarding house at £22,000-a-year Marlborough College, Wiltshire, following a blaze in its main building in the early hours.

Seventy-five firefighters attended the scene in 10 engines, after receiving a call from one of the boarding house staff at 2.05am.

The fire started in the roof and moved into one of the dormitories, setting off alarms, Wiltshire Fire Service said.

Although the initial blaze took 90 minutes to contain, hot spots in the roof were still being dealt with by fire crews at 10am.

About 30% of the original building’s roof was destroyed, the fire service said.

John Aldridge, the fire officer in charge at the scene today, said: “The fire started in the roof. It did not start in the room.”

He said builders had been doing work on a flat section of roof at the boarding house yesterday.

“Building work was going on but it is too early to say whether that was the cause. It may just be a coincidence,” Mr Aldridge said.

He added: “I think the school is keen to keep the press out because Princess Eugenie goes here.”

An investigation into the cause of the blaze was under way, the fire service said.

Nicholas Sampson, headmaster of Marlborough College, said in a statement: “A full scale evacuation was successfully completed and no one suffered serious injury.

“Five Shell

first year/13-14 year olds] pupils were taken to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon for a check-up to ensure any smoke inhalation had not caused long-term problems.

“They have all now been discharged.”

He added: “I’m very impressed by the way the boys have coped with this. Their parents can have every confidence in the college and we will work to ensure that confidence.”

After being led to safety, all the boys’ names were checked off in a roll call outside the boarding house. They were then taken to other boarding houses for the rest of the night.

Dr Mike Ponsford, Barton Hill’s housemaster, said: “This is unfortunate timing because some of the boys had exams (GCSE and A-level) today.”

Marlborough College, established in 1843, has 800 pupils.

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